Attempt to Move NASA Probe ISEE-3 spacecraft Hits Snag

This artist's rendition shows the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft, the which later became Interplanetary Cometary Explorer. 

A private team, called the SEE-3 Reboot Project, is hoping to restart the 36-year-old spacecraft's engines for a new science mission.

Credit: NASA

The quest to rescue a 36-year-old NASA spacecraft will go on for at least another day, as a private group controlling the probe achieved only partial success with an engine firing Tuesday (July 8).

The private team operating NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 spacecraft (ISEE-3) aimed to fire its engine numerous times to change the probe's trajectory and put it in a more stable position for communicating with Earth but things did not go exactly as planned.

"The first segment was full duration but only partially successful," Keith Cowing, co-leader of the SEE-3 Reboot Project, wrote in a blog post Wednesday (July 9).

"The second and third attempts failed. Possible causes (under investigation) include valve malfunction and fuel supply issues."

Controllers in California, who are beaming commands to ISEE-3 via the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, tried the burns several times.

After resetting the spacecraft and sending more commands, they stopped work for the day when their "window" of communication closed.

They noted that ISEE-3's thruster valve was opening and closing as expected, but the spacecraft wasn't accelerating.

"Either we are low on fuel in System A, or latch valve A is not working," the group said via Twitter, adding that the sun guidance sensor and accelerometers were not showing thrust.

"The ISEE-3 team is working [on] a strategy for tomorrow's pass. More to follow," the team concluded late Tuesday night.



The private group took control of the spacecraft several weeks ago after raising more than $150,000 via crowdfunding and obtaining permission from NASA, which retired the spacecraft in 1997.

ISEE-3 launched in 1978 and worked as a comet chaser and sun probe, among other roles.

The team has not yet determined what to do next with ISEE-3, focusing first on making sure the spacecraft can consistently communicate with Earth.

The clock is ticking for the SEE-3 Reboot Project to change ISEE-3's trajectory; Cowing has said that fuel consumption will become an issue by late July.

ISS Cosmonauts Hit Snag with HD Cameras during Record-Breaking Spacewalk

Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, and flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Dec. 27, 2013. 

NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio took this photo from inside the station.

Credit: NASA/Rick Mastracchio, via @AstroRM

Two Russian cosmonauts installed new HD camera eyes on the International Space Station during a record-setting spacewalk Friday (Dec. 27), only to have to return the devices inside due to an unspecified data glitch.

Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy spent just over eight hours — a new endurance record for Russian spacewalks — working outside the space station to install the new Earth-watching cameras for the Canadian company UrtheCast as part of an agreement with Russia's Federal Space Agency. 

But shortly after the installation, Russian engineers reported a problem receiving data from the imaging system.

"It appears that we have seen an unsuccessful attempt at bringing those two cameras to life," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during spacewalk commentary. 

"The exact cause of the problem is not known at this time."


The new cameras are designed to snap detailed views of Earth from space for UrtheCast, which will then provide the imagery to customers via the Internet.

They launched to the station in late November on the Russian Progress 53 cargo ship.

"UrtheCast's two cameras will stream unprecedented footage of our evolving Earth to anyone with an internet connection," the company's website promises.

"In near real-time, you will be able to visit your favorite locales and learn about current events as they unfold."

The UrtheCast cameras include a high-resolution instrument on a swivel platform for detailed observations, and a medium-resolution instrument attached to a fixed platform.

Both cameras were initially installed by Kotov and Ryazanskiy on their respective Earth-facing platforms outside the station's Zvezda service module.

"When the flight control team at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow did not see the expected telemetry and electrical connectivity from the newly installed medium and high resolution cameras, Kotov and Ryazanskiy were directed to remove the cameras and return them to the airlock for further analysis," NASA officials said in a statement.

"The spacewalkers also were instructed to take detailed photographs of the electrical connectors mated earlier for additional review."

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Hits New Snag

The location of a rock target called "Knorr" is indicated on this self-portrait of the Curiosity rover in the "Yellowknife Bay" area. 

This self-portrait is a mosaic of images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera during the 177th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 3, 2013). 

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A new glitch on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has forced the vehicle to stay in safe mode longer than planned, stalling science operations for another couple of days, scientists said today (March 18).

The Curiosity rover had paused in its scientific investigation of the Red Planet in late February, when corrupted memory files forced engineers to switch the rover's main operations from its "A-side" computer to its "B-side" backup.

Just as the computer switch was sorted out, though, mission managers decided to put the rover back in standby mode on March 5 to protect it from possible radiation that could be released by a major solar flare pointed toward Mars.

Curiosity had come out of safe mode following that scare, but normal science operations had not yet resumed.

Now, a computer file error has forced the rover into safe mode again.

"This is not something which is rare or extraordinary,"Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger said today at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. "It does mean that science has to stand down for a couple more days."

The latest issue has to do with some of the rover's files that were scheduled for deletion. One of those files was connected to a file still in use by the spacecraft, so the deletion process prompted an error that sent the rover into safe mode again, preventing the rover from resuming science as planned.

"If not for the latest safing, we would have been back in action today," Grotzinger said. "The expectation is, it's going to take a couple of sols [Martian days] to resolve this one."

Despite these technical setbacks, though, Curiosity's team of scientists has been forging ahead with analysis of the wealth of data collected by the rover so far. Those measurements allowed the researchers to declare last week the mission had found proof that a spot on ancient Mars would have provided habitable conditions to microbes, had they been present during the planet's past.